Lisbon man gets nine years for firearm thefts in burglary spree

Published March 21. 2014 3:00PM

Updated March 22. 2014 12:33AM

One of the two serial burglars involved in a spree of residential burglaries across the region from 2008 through 2010 was sentenced Friday to nine years in prison followed by five years of supervised release on gun theft charges.

Bernard McAllister, 43, of Lisbon was sentenced in Bridgeport for stealing and possessing numerous firearms, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill ordered McAllister’s 108-month federal sentence to run concurrently with his state sentence. McAllister is scheduled to be sentenced in state court on April 2, at which time he is expected to receive a sentence of 25 years, suspended after 16 years.

McAllister and his partner in crime, Mark Missino, formerly of Waterford, were found in possession of 19 guns, part of a cache 8,000 other stolen items in an East Lyme storage locker in 2010. Police said they estimate the two men stole more than $1 million in goods, mostly from unoccupied homes.

Prior to November 2010, McAllister had been convicted of multiple felony offenses in several states, including burglary, robbery, breaking and entering, and making terrorist threats with intent to terrorize another.

McAllister and Missino have been detained since Nov. 18, 2010, when they were arrested in Massachusetts. On June 6, 2013, McAllister pleaded guilty to one count of possession of firearms by a previously convicted felon. Missino, 46, of Waterford pleaded guilty to the same charge on Jan. 30 and awaits sentencing.

In addition to many other crimes, authorities said McAllister admitted that he and Missino had carried out the armed home invasion in November 2009 of a jewelry store manager’s Griswold home and the subsequent burglary of the Grader’s jewelry store on West Main Street in Norwich.